Hello everyone.

 

I recently went out to the lake and there were some rougher waves. As I got to the boat ramp, I turned my engine off for a second. When I turned it back on, the engine would not shift into forward. Neutral would work and Reverse. Sometimes I am stuck in reverse (I believe if I shifted it into forward, it acted as neutral occasionally). 

 

My control box and control cable seem to work fine which leads me to believe that it is in the lower unit. Can it be the shift cable going to the lower unit is knocked out of place from some waves? It has been a good amount of time since I switched up gear lube oil and I plan on switching that out. Any ideas where else to look? 

 

My motor is a 95 Mariner 3.0 EFI 225 HP

I would take the cover off the motor, and disconnect the end of the shift cable that connects to the motor, then verify the shift handle of the control box moves back and fourth freely, and do a visual inspection on the motor.

If it does, then get ready to write a big check if the motor is not still under warranty, because anything on the motor end of the cable is not something you are probably going to be able to fix and will require a knowledgeable mechanic because the problem is most like in the lower unit.

There are a couple of solid rods and mechanical connections that go to the lower unit from where you disconnect the shift cable at the motor, there is no cable.

1 minute ago, Way2slow said:

I would take the cover off the motor, and disconnect the end of the shift cable that connects to the motor, then verify the shift handle of the control box moves back and fourth freely.

If it does, then get ready to write a big check if the motor is not still under warranty, because anything on the motor end of the cable is not something you are probably going to be able to fix and will require a knowledgeable mechanic because the problem is most like in the lower unit.

There are a couple of solid rods and mechanical connections that go from where you disconnect the shift cable at the motor, there is no cable.

 

I took the cowling off and when I use the control box, it shifts FnR okay. I mistyped and meant the shift rod and not the cable. 

About the only other thing you could try would be to disconnect the shift cable at the motor and then try manually moving the shift linkage on the motor (where the cable was connected) back and fourth between forward and reverse and see if it shifts to forward then.   Have the motor running on a hose or in a tank when doing this, the drive shaft needs to be turning when shifting to make sure it's not binding on the gears in the LU.

If it will shift to forward there, then you probably need to adjust the cable to the controller (that's done at the point where you disconnected it), or check the control box. 

If you can't manually shift it into forward, then it's time to start feeling kinda sick.

Let me give a quick update.. I could manual shift it into gear, then I hooked it back up and used the control box and the gear box went into gear and the prop turned. Turns out there is gear lube leaking out my prop and it is a milky white. Looks like a broken seal 

Remove the drain plug and let a little drain out to verify.  If that's milky then yes it's coming out of the LU.  Sometimes you can get a drainage out of the exhaust that can make it look like the LU is leaking.  If the small amount you let drain is black, there is no water getting into the LU.